School districts that lost a lot of days to snow and ice storms in January might not have to make up all of the days. Representative Terry Swinger’s southeast Missouri district was hit hard by ice January 26 and 27th. Power was out for weeks in much of the area. Classes were cancelled for weeks in several school districts.
Swinger’s bill saying schools do not have to make up more than ten days this year has passed the House. It’s been endorsed by a Senate committee and is expected to pass without controversy.
Swinger says the January storms overwhelmed the law. "We thought we had this fixed with the previous legislation," he has told a Senate Committee. The "previous legislation" says school districts must make up the first six snow days they have each year, then hold one day of classes for each two additional days that have been missed.
He says schools in three counties in his area missed 15 to 19 days. Swinger says making up that many days at the end of the regular school year would cause problems because there are only two weeks between the end of regular classes and the start of summer school.,
Some Senators are not wild about passing a one-year-only fix but they’ve been assured the House will send the Senate a bill making the 10-day makeup period permanent.